TO BOGOTA AND BACK BY AIR
TIlE SINGLE-SEATER WINGS ITS WAY OVER GATUN LAKE: PANAMA CANAL ZONE
On his flight to Col6n, Colonel Lindbergh made an aerial inspection of this artificial lake,
which was created by the closing of Gatun Dam across the Chagres River and the subsequent
overflow of 165 miles of lowland. The lake is dotted with the tops of trees killed by the over
flow and with green islands which were once the summits of high hills. One of these islands,
Barro Colorado, has been set aside by the United States Government as a sanctuary for the
conservation and study of tropical life (see "Who Treads Our Trails?" in the NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE for September, 1927).
to the Colombian shore. I wrote my notes
in the air, on the margin of my map.
Some i,8oo feet up I cruised along the
coast of the Gulf of Darien. Below ap
peared many small villages, along the
shore. Inland the country was hilly, but
not mountainous. In fact, from here I
could see no mountains at all, perhaps be
cause haze cut visibility to about 40 miles.
Along the gulf coast I made about 95
miles an hour, against a head wind, and
reached Cartagena at I :45, on January 26.
FIVE HOURS FROM CARTAGENA TO BOGOTA
On the 27th I left for Bogota, which
lies almost due south of Cartagena, in the
interior of Colombia. It used to be con
sidered one of the most inaccessible Latin
American cities. Now its people get in
and out by air, in a mere fraction of the
time required by other means. It took me
a little over five hours to fly there from
Cartagena.
For the first hundred miles the country
I flew over was inhabited and contained
many places where I could have landed
had it been necessary, but after leaving
the San Jorge River I struck a rugged
country, covered with very dense jungle.
The color of the trees here was different
from any I had seen. Some bore red
flowers and stood out sharply in contrast
with the dark green of the jungle. Here
and there was one of a brilliant yellow
color.
About a third of the way to Bogota I
located myself above the forks of the
Nechi and Cauca rivers. Soon after noon
I passed over Puerto Berrio. From 2,000
feet up I looked down on many people in
the streets. There were river steamers in
sight, and at the river bank there was one
of the airplanes used by the German com
pany that runs a commercial service from
Bogota down the Magdalena River.
I was flying at about 8,ooo feet and was
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